Freedom's Horizon (WLW)

Part Two: Chapter Thirty-Two

This chapter contains mature/explicit elements!

March 1726, Sailing the Atlantic Ocean, One Week from Strait of Gibraltar

After sailing toward Sicilia for the better part of nearly three weeks, the crew was tired, but none more so than Esme. Aimee could tell it by the languid blinks of her eyelids and found herself rather hypnotized. She watched with bated breath as Esme instructed Georgie in his aim, trying to perfect it as best as they could before he took up his rifle post in the guard tower surrounding Sah's temple. He was studious, meticulous in listening to Esme's every instruction and Aimee found herself enthralled by the situation.

Upon first meeting Esme in the sixteen-hundreds, Aimee knew she'd been made a captive audience to her many whims. At times it felt as though Esme was her greatest foe and at others she felt her a saving grace in the long endeavor known as her life. Aimee thought back to seeing those lavender eyes pointed her way the first time and the gentleness they held upon taking her in. Esme was tender, yet gruff and altogether stirring.

When they'd reunited, Aimee hadn't been sure whether to fear Esme, or run to her and leap into her arms. The moment she stared into her eyes and didn't find the Esme she knew within them, she'd grown a deep need in her heart that had yet to be fully answered. After destroying that which bound her, Aimee thought she would be able to let it all go, but had acted coldly, keeping Esme away. Yet that hadn't lasted long. The one constant was that stirring within herself that told her to be closer and closer still to whom she desired most.

Releasing a hum, Aimee was reminded of Esme's brashness and exhaled, unsure of what her heart was ultimately trying to convey. Esme could be so rash, so quick to act in such a brazen manner it reminded Aimee of her cloaked self. However, this was the real Esme now, meaning that bold attitude was continuously present.

Even as Esme remained cloaked, that attitude, that one trait followed her in every move she made. She was deliberate, unabashed, and Aimee finally realized just what her heart was crying out to her. Attraction, in its rawest form, presented to her as something to which she never found herself drawn in the past. Presented to her as a person, rather than an item to obtain along her journey, but this was so very different and unique to everything she'd ever craved in the past. This was a person. Someone of flesh and blood, someone who stirred her carnal desires she believed nonexistent long ago. This was someone who consumed her whole, lovingly and possessively. This was Esme, through-and-through. This was the constant. That bold, unashamed behaviour that absolutely drew Aimee in from the moment they met and followed her around like a comforting warmth flourishing in her chest, sent cascading down to her toes and back.

Aimee stared ahead, clenching and relaxing her jaw several times as she thought of all the possibilities the days to come might bring. Esme lifted her head as if sensing her stare and regarded her with such heat she felt her flesh scorched. Aimee knew in that instant she was not the only one who felt this tumultuous, passionate connection rekindled on that little island and she jolted to attention. Feeling her skin simmer even further, she spun around and made her way to Esme's quarters below deck, ducking inside.

Despite Margaret wanting to give Esme the reins, she had decided to remain a shiphand, for lack of a better term. Margaret was given the captain's cabin, but there was a small space in the lower hull primarily used for storing goods on their journey afforded to Esme so that she might have room to herself. It wasn't much, but still better than everyone else's sleeping arrangements above deck with little protection from the elements. Aimee suddenly missed the original Midnight Scarlet, yet was able to breathe a sigh of relief once she glanced about the room and found herself alone. She hadn't even a moment to herself over the last three weeks with how busy they were planning and preparing for their battle. Aimee had also gotten the opportunity to learn more of her familial history and was truly enamoured with all she heard, but she just needed a minute to catch her--